So I have been reading up on different ways to hydrate my chameleon's but one chameleon in particular has been difficult. He has been prescribed baytril for mouthrot so he NEEDS water, but he has trouble with inhaling water.
Sprayer:
He will always drink from the sprayer, he prefers this... BUT SOMETIMES he waits to swallow the water, forgets its in the front of his mouth, and aspirates it. Even when it looks like he is swallowing the water (you can see his throat muscles moving) a moment later he is pointing his head to the ceiling and thrashing about, so like I read on the forms here, I tilt him upside down. When I do this, a decent amount of water comes out of his lungs, and he starts acting normal. Some times after drinking he will just open his mouth because he only aspirated a small amount (still bad because of pneumonia could set in). USUALLY (75% of the time) he is fine and nothing happens.
How I spray:
I pump the sprayer with an indirect fine mist about once every 5 seconds. I am not sure how to prevent him from aspirating during mistings. When he starts drinking he just keeps going. I am afraid to spray him for longer than a minute or two because he always seems to aspirate after a few mins. I have tried other methods:
Dripper:
I have a dripping system set up to drip on several fake plant leaves before funneling unused water out the window into the garden. I keep the tank filled at all times so it is always dripping (except at night). He does not use this at all.
Misting system:
About 10 months ago I saved up and bought a Mist King, the motor stopped working entirely after two months of owning it. After calling Mist King's "support" on the fourth time, someone finally got back to me and asked me to send a picture of the broken unit (I sent them a picture a few minutes later), I never got a response since then and I have left about 10 messages (between phone and email). I used this system for the baby chameleons, and it isn't working so I don't know if he would even use it (if he did we might have the same problem).
Any advice would be helpful.
Especially for those of you who spray bottle your chams...
- Is this just a quirk? or is this common for chams to aspirate after misting?
- If the chameleon keeps swallowing after each spray, how do you know when they are REALLY finished drinking?
- At 43 grams how much water does he need? (maybe he just fills up and keeps drinking)
Additional Info:
High tropical humidity, ambient temp is always between 79-86 degrees
He is 43 grams and 6 inches from horn to tail. He roams around various nets canopied across the walls/corners in our bedroom. He eats kale-gut-loaded crickets with calcium (and occasionally D3). He lounges next to the screen window where he gets natural sunlight unless the temp is high then he tends to climb over to the net near the UV lamp. He is good about always pooping on a newspaper under the UV net. Sometimes he visits the exterior of the females Jackson's habitat, which I allow only because she seems to tolerate him (she turns bright green and does a flirty dance, instead on hissing and getting dark like she does to other chams)
Oh and he goes by the name ... the Green Arrow.
Sprayer:
He will always drink from the sprayer, he prefers this... BUT SOMETIMES he waits to swallow the water, forgets its in the front of his mouth, and aspirates it. Even when it looks like he is swallowing the water (you can see his throat muscles moving) a moment later he is pointing his head to the ceiling and thrashing about, so like I read on the forms here, I tilt him upside down. When I do this, a decent amount of water comes out of his lungs, and he starts acting normal. Some times after drinking he will just open his mouth because he only aspirated a small amount (still bad because of pneumonia could set in). USUALLY (75% of the time) he is fine and nothing happens.
How I spray:
I pump the sprayer with an indirect fine mist about once every 5 seconds. I am not sure how to prevent him from aspirating during mistings. When he starts drinking he just keeps going. I am afraid to spray him for longer than a minute or two because he always seems to aspirate after a few mins. I have tried other methods:
Dripper:
I have a dripping system set up to drip on several fake plant leaves before funneling unused water out the window into the garden. I keep the tank filled at all times so it is always dripping (except at night). He does not use this at all.
Misting system:
About 10 months ago I saved up and bought a Mist King, the motor stopped working entirely after two months of owning it. After calling Mist King's "support" on the fourth time, someone finally got back to me and asked me to send a picture of the broken unit (I sent them a picture a few minutes later), I never got a response since then and I have left about 10 messages (between phone and email). I used this system for the baby chameleons, and it isn't working so I don't know if he would even use it (if he did we might have the same problem).
Any advice would be helpful.
Especially for those of you who spray bottle your chams...
- Is this just a quirk? or is this common for chams to aspirate after misting?
- If the chameleon keeps swallowing after each spray, how do you know when they are REALLY finished drinking?
- At 43 grams how much water does he need? (maybe he just fills up and keeps drinking)
Additional Info:
High tropical humidity, ambient temp is always between 79-86 degrees
He is 43 grams and 6 inches from horn to tail. He roams around various nets canopied across the walls/corners in our bedroom. He eats kale-gut-loaded crickets with calcium (and occasionally D3). He lounges next to the screen window where he gets natural sunlight unless the temp is high then he tends to climb over to the net near the UV lamp. He is good about always pooping on a newspaper under the UV net. Sometimes he visits the exterior of the females Jackson's habitat, which I allow only because she seems to tolerate him (she turns bright green and does a flirty dance, instead on hissing and getting dark like she does to other chams)
Oh and he goes by the name ... the Green Arrow.
